Automatic feeder



June 24, 1930. B. MANDRICH AUTOMATIC FEEDER Filed April 12, 1928 INVENTOR 0 BY W W vve lllillil llllllllll ATTORNEY Patented June 24, 1930 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BELL MANDRICH, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO CROWN CORK & SEAL COMPANY, INC., 01? NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK AUTOMATIC FEEDER Application filed April 12,

My invention relates to automatic feeders, and more particularly to a continuously operating feeder, the functioning of which will not be interrupted in the event that more than a single sheet is fed by the picker mechanism.

Heretofore automatic feeders have been provided with a picker mechanism adapted to remove the top sheet from a pile of sheets and deliverit to a conveyor mechanism which in. turn delivers it adjacent to a printing couple or other mechanisms for acting upon the sheet. To avoid a possible feeding of two or more sheets at a time, it

has long been the practice to provide a calipering device which may be set to approximately the thickness of a single sheet, and to provide means controlled by this calipering device so that if more than one sheet at a time passes into the operative relation to the calipering device, the conveyor mechanism and the picker mechanism will be made inoperative, thus interrupting the functioning of thefe eder.

It has been a common practice to provide such feeders, particularly when used in connection with a printing press, With means which will cause the actuation of a throwoff mechanism operative upon the members of a printing couple in the event of the failure of the feeder mechanism to deliver a sheet to the printing couple. My invention, however, does not relate to this throwoff mechanism control but merely to the mechanisms controlled by the calipering device so that in the event of the feeding of more than a single sheet at a time, such sheets will. merely be rejected without any interruption of the functioning of the feeder. Bythus rejecting improperly fed sheets, the pressman or other operator is relieved from the necessity of removing such sheets from the feeder, thus effecting a saving of time and permitting an increased output capacity of'the main machine in connection with which the feeder is used.

Heretofore in calipering devices two rollers have been provided, one mounted upon a fixed axis on the machine proper, and the other upon a movable member of tion 1928. Serial N0. 269,850.

' properly fed sheet by the picker mechanism.

This Wear is particularly pronounced when a feeder is used for delivering tin sheets.

To correct this condition, I yieldingly support the roller carried by the calipering device proper, so thatit may automatically adjust itself to the sheet passing thereunder and thus minimize wear of parts while firmly holding the sheet in relation .to the thr'owoif control device of the calipers.

The invention consists primarily in an automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism including therein supports for a sheet while passing along said mechanism, means adapted to successively deliver sheets to said mechanism, a reject member, means normally tending to position said member across the plane 'ofmovement of sheets upon said supports, means for positively moving said member out of the plane of movement of sheets upon said supports, and caliper contr'olledmeans normally maintaining said member out of the path of movement of sheets upon said supports, and in such other novel features of construction 'and combination of parts, as are hereinafter set forth and described and more particularly pointed out in the claims hereto appended.- I

Referring to the drawings, Fig. l'is a'longitudinal section through an automatic feeder emb'odyingmy inven- Fig. 2 is a detail View of the calipering device with the trip mechanism shown in dotted lines; and

Fig. 3 is a view showing the mounting of the caliper member on the shoe with certain parts omitted.

Like numerals refer to like parts in all of said views.

In the accompanying drawings, I have illustrated the invention in connection with an old and well known type of automatic feeder, the picker mechanism of this feeder 'being indicated at 10 in the drawings and shown more or less conventionally. Ihe feeder, as shown in the drawings, is designed primarily for use in connection with the feeding of tin sheets in relation to a printing press not shown in the drawings.

Since the picker mechanism 10 is old and well known in this art, a detaileddescription of this need not be entered into it being merely necessary to understand that the top sheet of the pile shown at 11 is re so set as to permit the free passage of a single sheet from the pile 11, but which will operate in the event of the delivery of more than one sheet by the picker mechanism to actuate a trip mechanism in a manner to prevent such sheets being delivered to the printing press or other machine with which the feeder is used. 1

Heretofore, in this art, this trip mechanism has controlled the functioning of a clutch mechanism operative upon the main power shaft of the feedermechanism,'so that with the delivery of more than one sheet, this clutch mechanism will be released and thus interrupt the application of power to the feeder. This condition has required the operator of the machine, to remove such sheets from the conveyor mechanism before power can again be applied to the feeder, thus re uiring more or less constant attention of t e operator to avoid undue delays in the operation of the machine, and, at times, the bending of such sheets.

lVhile in a feeder embodying my invention, I provide a calipering mechanism and a trip mechanism actuated thereby which generally operates in the same manner as the corresponding mechanisms in older feeders, nevertheless the feeder as a whole differs from such old feeders in the results secured, in that, instead of interrupting the application of power to the feeder with the actuation of the caliper when more than one sheet is fed, other mechanisms in the machine are so set as to merely reject such sheets, or, remove them from the conveyor as a result of the continued application of power to the feeder. As a result of this new mode of operation, the feeder may opthan one sheet is delivered by the pickermechanism, and the loss of production resulting from such,.is avoided.

In securing the desired result, I provide movable reject members 17, the number and arrangement of which may be varied ac cording to the size and character of the sheets to be fed. The members 17, in the form of the invention shown, consist of a finger or fingers carried by a rock shaft 18, these fingers and said rock shaft being positioned below the plane of the bars 12. A gap indicated at 19 is provided in the length of said bars to permit the passage of sheets from the conveyor mechanism to a collecting shelf 20 below said reject members.

Carried by the shaft 18 is a crank arm 21 which is connected by means of a link 22 with a crank 23 upon a rock shaft 24. This rock shaft also carries an arm 25 adapted to co-operate with one arm of a rocking lever 26, forming a part of the trip mechanism of the calipering device.

Acting upon the arm 25 through a roller 27 carried thereby, is a cam 28 mounted upon a shaft 29, which ensures a proper timing in the operation of the reject members 17, and in conjunction with the trip mechanism 26, either normally maintains the reject members out of the path of movement of the sheets upon the conveyor mechanism or brings them to a position across the plane of movement of such sheets in advance of the forward edge of a sheet or sheets, in the event of the delivery of more than one sheet by the picker mechanism 10.

Means, as the spring 30, are provided whereby said reject members will be actuated, the functioning of this spring, however, being controlled by the trip mechanism of the calipering device through the lever arm 26 and the crank 25 and the cam 28.

In order to permit the manual control of the application of power to the conveyor mechanism, the shaft 24 is preferably concentric with an inner shaft 31 having an operating handle 32, which shaft 31 is operatively connected with the control mechanism for the clutch, not shown.

In older feeders the movement of a shaft corresponding with the shaft 31 was under the direct control of the calipering device through an arm corresponding with the arm 25. In order to permit the adaptation of my invention to old feeders of the type above referred to, I merely mount a hollow shaft or sleeve 24: upon the shaft 31, and secure the crank 23 and the arm 25 to this hollow shaft or sleeve. This, however, is immaterial. to the invention and applies only to the adaptation thereof shown in the drawings. The friction feed rollers 13,14 and 15, the number of which may be varied according to the. length of the conveyor mechanism,-are also merely a preferential means for moving the sheets along the conveyor.

The calipering mechanism in its general construction and mode of operation is of the type commonly used in feeders, and consists of a guide shoe 33, pivoted at 34 and pivotally connected at 35 with an arm 36 carrying a micrometrically adjustable setting screw 37 which bears against the adjacent frame work of the machine. The arm 36 is also pivotally mounted at 34, so thatthis arm and the shoe 33 will have simultaneous pivotal movement about the pivot 34, thus permitting the use of the screw 37 for limiting the pivotal movement of the shoe 33 in one direction and permitting a fine adjustment as to the extent of this movement. Also carried by the shoe 33 is an ofiset arm 38 acted upon by a cam 39, carried by the shaft 29, the riser of which cam is so proportioned that following the initial feeding movement of a sheet by the conveyor mechanism, the shoe and its appurtenances will be raised so as to avold any unnecessary contact of the micrometer mechanism with the sheets being fed.

Mounted to have free oscillatory movement upon the-shoe 33 is a friction clutch member 40. This clutch member, being pivotallymounted eccentrically of the pivot 34, may be set by means of the set screw 37 1n any desired position so as to serve as an accurate gauge as to the thickness of the sheets which may pass thereunder without causing the actuation of the trip mechanism of which this member forms a part.

By the foregoing constructionit is obvious that if the set screw 37 be actuated to permit the arm 36 to move to the right, (Fig. 2)

- the shoe 33 and the friction clutch member seated an arm 43 of the rocking lever 26.

The arm 36 is acted upon by a spring 44 normally engaging the micrometer adjust ing screw 37 with its co-operati'ng stop. The

general construction of the calipering de-' vice is old and well known, and no claim of invention is laid thereto. v

It has been the practice heretof0re, h owever, to mount, directly upon the shoe 33,

a roller co-operating with a roller 45 upon being directly mounted upon the shoe 33 is mounted upon an arm 47 pivoted to the shoe at 48 and acted upon by a spring 49 so as to yieldingly maintain the roller in p0sition in relation to the shoe and ,to its, oo-

operating roller 45 while permitting it to recede from the roller 45 when sheets of excess thickness or a plurality of sheets pass between these rollers. 1 In order to permit a fairly accurate setting of the'roller 46 independently of the setting of the shoe 33, I provide the lever 47 with an extension 50 carrying an adjust ing screw 51- operative upon a pin 52, carried by the shoe. The friction clutch member 40 is pivoted at 53 upon the shoe 33.

The operation of the herein described automatic feeder is substantially as follows:-

In preparlng for a run' of the feeder, the

micrometer screw 37 is so set as to bring the member 40 to a position above the plane of the conveyor bars and the roller 45 a, v Y

distance approximating the thickness of a slngle sheet of those to be fed, the spring 44 having a normal tendency to restore the shoe to this set positionnpon, or prior to, the initial feeding movement of a sheet by the conveyor m chanism. I v

When the calipers have been properly set, power may be applied to the feeder, and the plcker mechanism 10 thereof will operate in the usual manner to deliver the top sheet of thepile" 11 to between the feed rollers 13 which frictionally engage the sheet and advance it along the conveyor bars.12.

With the position of parts as shown in Fig. 1, a sheet has been partiallyfed by the conveyor mechanism, the shoe 33 being raised by the cam 39 out of contact with the sheet, and the arm 25 being supported by the arm 26, the shaft 29 having a contraclockwise rotation. Hence, during the continued feeding movement of that particular sheet, and prior to the delivery of the next sheet, the parts will be maintained in the relation shown. v

Following the next feeding movement, however, the fall of the cam 39 will permit the spring 44 to move the shoe 33, the clutch member 40 and the roller 46 downwardly to a position wherethe member 40 is operative to gauge-the succeeding sheet passing thereunder. When the fall of the cam 28 reaches the roller 27 following this movement of the calipering device, the shaft 24 will not be permitted to rock under the control of the spring 30 because of the engagement of the trip arm 26 with the arm 25 carried by said shaft.

The roller 46 co-acting with the roller 45 will firmly hold the portion of the sheets being fed closely adjacent the member 40 so as to prevent any tendency of irregularities in the thickness of the sheet, causing the actuation of the clutch mechanism. Upon a partial feeding of each succeeding sheetafter the forward part thereof has passed the caliperingdevice, the cams 39 and 28 will reach the position shown in Fig. 1 so as to again hold the calipering device out of engaging relation with the sheets and permit the arm 25 to descend in the event of the actuation of the member 40 as a result of the feeding of two sheets. This is the normal functioning of the feeder and does not differ from old and well known feeders.

By using a yieldable support for the roller 46, this roller is permitted to have movement independently of the shoe 33 and of the member 40, so that it may remain in the proper engaging relation with the sheet positioned between it and the roller 45 to ensure the proper feeding of this sheet in relation to the member 40, notwithstanding possible irregularities in the thickness ofthis sheet from any cause.

In preparing for a run, the set screw 51 may be used to limit the extent of downward movement of the arm 47 and thus properly gauge the engaging relation of the roller 46 with a sheet passing over the roller 45 in a manner to minimize wear of both of these rollers, particularly as theroller may be so set as to have practically no engagement with the roller 45 ;under normal conditions when a sheet is not being fed. In-

fact the mounting of the roller 46 in the manner described permits it to automatically adapt itself to varying thicknesses of sheets or to conditions when more than one sheet is being fed, which is an accidental condition, to guard against the effects of which the present invention is designed.

It [will be understood that so long as a single sheet is being fed, the functioning of the feeder will be substantially that of any other feeder, the reject members 17 being positioned below the plane of the bars 12 or of the sheet passing over these bars, and in .fact will serve as a support for the sheet when passing the gap 19. Assuming, 'however, that two sheets adhere when the picker mechanism acts to lift the uppermost sheet, and said two sheets are delivered to the rollers 13, it becomes necessary, in order to permit-a successful operation of any feeder, to provide means whereby these superimposed sheets will be prevented from reaching the mechanisms being supplied by the feeder. If such mechanism were a printing press, the delivery of two such sheets, particularly ,tin sheets, might do serious damage to the printing couple.

In all automatic feeders the construction must be such as to prevent two or more sheets ever reaching such mechanisms, and in the old types of feeders, as heretofore stated, the custom always was to utilize a caliper mechanism to interrupt the application of power to the feeder and afford the operator an opportunity, while the feeder was stopped, to remove such sheets from the conveyor by hand and then re-start the feeding mechanism after the removed sheets were either restored to the pile or had'been placed upon the conveyor mechanism.

The mechanisms of the feeder of my invention, however, aresuch that this condition may be taken care of without stopping the feeder mechanism and without requiring any hand labor on the part of the operator, it being necessary for the successful operation of the feeder of my invention that.

the conveyor mechanism be continuously operated in order to ensure the automatic removal or rejection of two or more sheets thus improperly fed to the conveyor. mechanism by the picker mechanism.

In the event of the feeding, of two or more sheets, and ordinarily only two such sheets will he accidentally fed, the additional thickness of the material passing below the member 40 will cause these sheets to frictionally engage said clutch member 40 and impart oscillatory movement thereto, which movement will cause the pin 41,-by engagement with the arm 43, to move the trip arm 26 and keep it out of thepath of the arm 25 during an interval following the disengagement of the rise of the cam 28 from the roller 27, so that the spring 30, by drawing said arm 25- downwardly, will move the roekshaft24 and actuate the crank 23 in a manner to raise the fingers or other reject members 27 to an extent to project them at an angle across the plane of movement of the sheet in advance of the forward edge thereof. This movement of the fingers is imparted thereto through the link 22, the crank 21 and the rock shaft 18. The fall of the cam 28 will permit this condition to continue for a sufficient period to cause the superimposed sheets to be deflected downwardly by the reject members 17 and passed entirely through the gap 19 and be deposited upon the collecting shelf 20. r

In the accompanying drawings the layout and setting of the cams 28 and 39 is such that the calipering device is brought into ing device and to raise it so as to permit the arm 26 to pass freely-thereunder upon the completion of the feeding movement of'any sheet following the actuation of the clutch member 40. The details and setting of these cams requires no great precision, it being merely necessary that the fall of the cam 28 shall be ofa length to permit the sheets to passin their entirety below the reject members 17 before said members are restored to their normal position below the planeof the bars or other supports 12, and that the fall of the cam 39 shall be of suflicient length to permit the proper functioning of the trip mechanism of the calipering device.

A detailed description of the functioning of the calipering device is not given because such is old and-well known in the art. In fact, any desired type of calipering device may be used so long as it is capable of controlling the functioning of the reject mechanism in the manner herein described.

The invention resides primarily in the employment of mechanisms which are controlled'by a calipering device so that in the event of more than one sheet being delivered by the picker mechanism such sheets, under the control of the conveyor mechanism, will be removed from the supports of this mechanism as a result of a continued actuation of the feeder, and afford a clear path for a succeeding properly fed sheet. In the draw-' ings, I have illustrated a construction in which improperly fed sheets will pass below the supports 12 to the table Z0, which I have found preferable as avoiding supplementa conveyor mechanisms for handling the i sheets.

It is not my intention to limit the invention to the .precise details of construction shown in the drawings, it being apparent that such may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.-

Having described the invention, what I claim as new and desired to have protected 4 by Letters Patent, is

j 1. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism including therein supports for a sheet while passing along said mechanism; means adapted to successively deliver sheets to sa1d mechanism, a re ect member, means normally tending to position.

said member across the plane of movement of sheets upon said supports, means for pos tively moving said member out of the plane of movement of sheets upon saidsupports, and caliper controlled means normally maintaining said member out of the pathof movement of sheets upon said supports.

2. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism including therein supports for a sheet while passing along said mechanism, means adapted to successively deliver sheets to said mechanism, reject members pivotally supported in a plane parallel with that of said supports, means normally tending to project said members at an angle across the plane of movement of sheets upon said supports, means for positively moving said members in their entirety out of the plane of movement of sheets upon said supports, and caliper controlled means normally maintaining said members out of the path of movement of sheets upon said supports 3. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism including therein supports for a sheet while passing along said mechanism, said suppbrts having a gap in the length thereof, means adapted to successively deliver sheets to said mechanism, reject members supported below said supports, means normally tending to raise s'aid members and position them in an incline across the plane of movement of sheets upon said supports, means for positively moving said members below said supports, and caliper controlled means normally maintaining said members below said supports.-

4:. An automatic feeder embodying-therein a conveyor mechanism including therein supports for a sheet while passing along said in an incline across the plane of inovement of sheets upon said supports, a cam operac tive upon said oscillatory member, whereby said reject members may be positively moved to below said supports, and caliper controlled 'means operativew upon said oscillatorymember to prevent actuation thereof by said spring.

5. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism, means adapted to successively deliver sheets to said: m echanism, reject members arranged in the length of said conveyor mechanism, a rock shaft carryingsaid reject members, a crank arm thereonpa second rock shaft, a crank arm thereon, a link connecting the crank arms of said rook shafts, means having a normal tendency to actuate said rock shafts to position said reject members at an angle across the plane of movement of said sheets, means operative upon said rockshafts to position said reject members below the plane of movement of sheets upon said conveyor mechanism, and means operative upon said last named means, whereby said means operative upon said second rock shaft will be made inoperative to impart movement to said reject members except in the event of the delivery of more than a single sheet to said conveyor mechanism.

6. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism having a gap in the length thereof, means adapted to successive ly deliver sheets to said mechanism, reject members arranged in the gap of said conveyor mechanism, a rock shaft carrying said reject members, a crank arm thereon, a second rock shaft, a crank arm thereon, a link connecting the crank arms of said rock shafts, means having a normal tendency to actuate said rock shafts to position said reject members at an angle across the plane of movement of said sheets, means operative upon said rock shafts to position said reject members below the plane of movement of sheets upon said conveyor mechanism, and means operative upon said last named means, whereby said means operative upon said second rock shaft will be made inoperative to impart movement to said reject members except in the event of the delivery of more than a single sheet to said conveyor mechanism.

7. An automatic feeder embodying therein a conveyor mechanism, means adapted to successively deliver sheets to said mechanism, reject members arranged in the length of said conveyor mechanism, a rock shaft carrying said reject members, a crank arm thereon, a second rock shaft, a crank arm thereon, a link connecting the crank arms of said rock shafts, means having a normal tendency to actuate said rock shafts to position said reject members at an angle across the plane of movement of said sheets, an arm carried by said second rock shaft, a rocking lever co-operating therewith, a cam operative upon said arm, whereby movement may be imparted to said rock shafts to bring said reject members out of the plane of movement of sheets upon said conveyor mechanism, and said rocking lever may be moved into the operative relation to said arm to maintain said reject members in this position except in the event of the delivery of more than a single sheet to said conveyor mechan sm, a calipering device operative upon sa d rocking lever, and means moving said calipering device into and out of the operative relation to sheets upon said conveyor mechanism. t

8. An automatic feeder embodying theresecond rock shaft, a crank arm thereon, a

link connecting the crank arms of said rock shafts, means having a normal tendency to actuate said rock shafts to position sald reject members at an angle across the plane of movement of said sheets, an arm carried by said second rock shaft, a rocking lever co-operating therewith, a cam operative upon said arm, whereby movement may be c into the operative relation to said arm to maintain said reject members in this position except in the event of the delivery of more than a" single sheet to said conveyor mech anism, "a calipering device operative upon said rocking lever, and means moving said calipering device intoand out of the operative relation to sheets upon said conveyor mechanism,

9. In an automatic feeder, a calipering device comprising an oscillatory shoe, a clutch member pivotally mounted thereon, adjusting means operative upon said shoe, a lever pivotally mounted upon said shoe, a bearing roller carried thereby, a spring normally positioning said roller in relation to said clutch member but permitting movement thereof relatively to said shoe, and means for limiting the operative efiect of said spring.

10. .In an automatic feeder, a calipering device comprising an oscillatory shoe, a clutch member pivotally mounted thereon, adjusting means operative upon said shoe, a

lever pivotally mounted upon said shoe, a

bearing roller carried thereby, a spring normally positioning said roller in relation to said clutch member but permitting move- 7 ment thereof relatively to said shoe, and adjustable means for limiting the operative effeet of said spring.

In witness whereof I have hereunto affixed my signature April, 1928.

\ BELL MAN DRICH.

in a conveyor mechanism havinga gap in the length thereof, means adapted to suc- 

